Last month, freshman Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) has asserted that the Republican Party "cannot be the anti-illegal immigration party. We have to be the pro-legal immigration party." However, despite preaching a tolerance for immigrants and immigration, Rubio has often agreed with and pushed for policies that are bolstered by extremist and racist anti-immigrant voices. Many of the comments he has made echo those made by anti-immigration activists and Southern Poverty Law Center-labeled hate groups.

In 2001, Texas Gov. Rick Perry signed a law granting in-state tuition benefits to undocumented immigrants. Now that Perry is running for president, his critics, including GOP frontrunner Mitt Romney, are using Perry's support for the law to accuse him of being insufficiently tough on immigration. However, Texas' in-state tuition law is both good for the economy and legally sound. Given those facts, critics like Romney should explain why Perry's judgment about the best policy for Texas was wrong instead of simply pandering to anti-immigrant sentiment among GOP primary voters.